What A Nice Way Of Saying “FAFO”

I closed at my store last night with a coworker and a team lead. We were supposed to be in the building until 9:00 after the store closed at 8:00. After [Team Lead] whizzed through tills way earlier than he should have, he called us on the intercom to get our stuff and head to the front door.

I kid you not, it was 8:15, and we had plenty more to do. So, [Coworker] and I went to find [Team Lead].

Coworker & Me: “Uh, there’re entire sections that haven’t been zoned and recovered yet. The restrooms aren’t finished. The aisles haven’t been swept or mopped. The store is a hot mess.”

Team Lead: “I’m not worried about all that. Don’t you wanna go? Let’s go. I’m trying to see my girl.”

After some back and forth, with [Coworker] and I adamantly insisting we stay until our designated time, [Team Lead] pulled rank by saying he was arming the alarm and we needed to be out. So, [Coworker] and I threw our hands up and left.

Now, some backstory. [Team Lead] is eighteen years old and has been out of training as a team lead for two days. [Coworker] and I both have more retail experience than he has life experience. Our store manager likes to promote the young people while seasoned veterans like [Coworker] and I get overlooked. I guess he figures we know too much and he can’t manipulate us. But whatever. When it came time to promote a team lead from the sales associates, it was down to [Team Lead] and me. And instead of promoting the one with over two decades of customer service and merchandising experience, our store manager chose a newly eighteen-year-old with no previous work experience, no people skills, and the work ethic of a beach pebble. Oh, okay. Ooooookay.

So, back to the story. This morning, the store manager pulled me aside and started going OFF about how poorly we left the store last night. After he was done frothing at the mouth, I lowered my glasses, looked him in his face, and said:

Me: “Well, you need to take that up with [Team Lead]. Because he’s the one who rushed us out of here at 8:15 so he could go ‘see his girl’. Seems like if you want things done right, you should probably promote people with a proven track record of getting things done right. But you don’t. So, if that’s the way you wanna make your bed, then you gotta lie in it. But what you absolutely will not do is holler in my face for something that isn’t my fault.”

Then I went back to zoning my Cheerios and left him standing there fuming.

I’ll probably getting written up later, buuuut whatever. I’m putting my two weeks’ in soon anyway!